Jane Doe, a former Boston Police Department officer, sued the City and its officers under Title VII, alleging retaliation for protected conduct. Her protected conduct included reporting a fellow officer's alleged rape in 2009 and filing subsequent complaints and lawsuits. After an internal investigation cleared the accused officer but sustained 65 charges against Doe for rule violations, she resigned with charges pending in 2014. The dispute centers on actions taken after February 2, 2017, when Doe applied for over forty jobs and when the Washington Post submitted a public records request. Doe alleged that the BPD retaliated against her by disclosing her disciplinary records to prospective employers who had her authorization and by listing her as having resigned with pending charges in response to the media request. The district court granted summary judgment for the City, finding no admissible evidence that the disclosures were motivated by retaliation, and the First Circuit affirmed.
The First Circuit applied the strict 'but-for' causation standard required for Title VII retaliation claims, as established in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar. To succeed, a plaintiff must prove that the desire to retaliate was the cause of the challenged action, not merely a motivating factor. The court analyzed two specific instances of alleged retaliation. First, regarding the disclosure of records to prospective employers, the court found that the BPD followed its standard operating procedures. The record showed that law enforcement agencies typically request disciplinary history, and four of the five requests Doe provided explicitly sought disciplinary information. The court noted there was no evidence that the BPD deviated from its normal practices or that the employees handling these requests knew of Doe's protected conduct. Second, regarding the Washington Post request, the court held that the BPD was legally obligated to respond to the public records request under Massachusetts law. The information provided was accurate, stating Doe resigned with charges pending and that the charges were sustained. The court emphasized that the plaintiff offered no evidence that the Office of Media Relations, which handled the request, had knowledge of her protected conduct. Without evidence that the decision-makers knew of the protected activity, the court concluded that a reasonable jury could not infer a retaliatory motive.
The decision reinforces the high bar for proving retaliation in employment cases, specifically requiring proof that the employer's decision-maker had knowledge of the protected conduct and that the adverse action would not have occurred but for that motive. It clarifies that following standard disclosure procedures for employment records and fulfilling legal public records obligations does not constitute retaliation, even if the disclosed information is damaging to the former employee. The case is remanded with instructions to enter judgment consistent with the affirmation, effectively ending Doe's federal Title VII retaliation claims.
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